By Chance
by queen-sheep
Summary: In which lost hand mirrors lead to the inadvertent meeting of two people. Because sometimes love just happens. And sometimes you have to allow it to happen. Percy/Penelope -ONESHOT


_Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Round 3. _

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Percy hurried through the halls of Hogwarts, clutching his books and bags to his chest. He throat was dry and he was running out of breath and he really wasn't cut out for this type of exercise, but none of that mattered because he was absolutely furious. The twins had decided to play a nice little prank on him by scattering his stuff all over the Gryffindor dorms. He had found them strewn all over the Common Room, in various other boys' rooms, and even some in the girls' room. It had been mortifying to ask the girls to retrieve his books. Even now, his cheeks burned at the memory of them giggling at him.

It had taken him so long to find all his stuff that he had skipped breakfast and was now almost running late to his first class of the day. As he rounded the corner, Percy's eyes widened at the body that he was rapidly approaching and was going to crash into. The only thing he registered was that it was a she, and that she had blonde hair, before they were both on the floor groaning. This, of course, caused Percy's stress levels to spike up even more, and he hurriedly grabbed his books, mumbled a quick apology to the girl, and booked it out of there. He thankfully managed to slip into his class just before it began, although his stomach was growling, and he didn't get to do any pre-class review like he usually did.

As he rummaged through his now messy bag, he frowned at the addition of one item that hadn't been there earlier. It was a hand mirror. It looked expensive as well, with intricate flower designs all around the perimeter of the mirror, and a dark stained wood. With dread, Percy realized it must've been from the girl he bumped into in the hallway. He quickly shoved it back into his bag before anyone could see and make fun of, and tried to remember the girl's face, or the color of her uniform. He drew a blank.

It was at that point that he started to panic. He had no way of finding the girl, and no way of knowing if the girl had caught a glimpse of his face enough to find him either. But the lecture was starting, so he shoved the panic to the back of his mind, resolving to think of the problem later.

It was as he was leaving the classroom that an idea occurred to Percy. He could always ask Charlie if he could ask around to see if any of the girls had lost a hand mirror. He was popular with the girls, being a Quidditch star, and he was sure that any girl would gladly pour out their woes to him. Granted, it wasn't the best of ideas, but it was still better than nothing.

With this in mind, he entered the Great Hall at the start at lunch and slid into place beside his brother. Charlie gave him a startled look, but didn't say anything. Percy shifted awkwardly, wondering how to word his request. Finally, he sighed.

"So I accidently grabbed a hand mirror of a girl earlier today, and I was wondering if you could ask around to see if there are any blonde girls who have lost a mirror," he blurted out quickly, trying to keep down the redness in his ears from embarrassment.

It didn't work. Charlie's face cracked into a wide grin and he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"A girl, eh? Well, well, well, little Percy is growing up."

Percy frowned, standing up abruptly to walk away. Suddenly, a tug at his sleeve made him look down at his brother again. He looked slightly repentant and sheepish.

"Alright, sorry for teasing you. I'll see what I find."

Percy sighed and nodded in thanks. Absentmindedly, he went over to his own group of friends and sat down to eat. They greeted him distractedly, and then went back to revising for the upcoming Transfiguration test. Percy sat and shovelled food into his mouth mechanically. He really didn't know why he was so caught up with the hand mirror. It had nothing to do with his studies, which was usually the only thing he was interested in.

Quickly finishing his lunch, he exited the hall and decided to walk around a bit before his next class started. He had no destination, wandering aimlessly before he realized his feet had taken him to the place he had bumped into the girl. To his immense surprise, he spotted a head of blonde hair ahead, and hurried towards it.

"Excuse me," he called out. The girl turned to face him. "Would you happen to have lost a hand mirror?"

As he neared her, he could spot the visible relief on her face.

"Yes, I did," she told him, smiling. "Thank you so much for bringing it back to me! It's very important to me."

Percy nodded and shifted awkwardly, unused to dealing with girls. He glanced down, noticing that she was in Ravenclaw. "It's no problem," he managed.

She beamed and held out a hand. "My name is Penelope Clearwater. It's nice to meet you."

Percy reached out his hand and took it. "Percy Weasley," he said.

The two of them stood there for a while before Percy realized she hadn't let go of his hand.

"Er," he began.

She either didn't notice or was ignoring it.

"I know this might sound weird," she said conversationally, "considering I just met you and everything, but would you like to go out some time? I... kind of like you."

She gave him a hopeful look.

Percy blanked out. The situation was progressing far faster than he had ever expected and how did someone just decide they liked someone within minutes of meeting them? It was illogical, unreasonable, and unjustifiable. It was hormones, he knew.

But while he was considering the situation in his head, another side of him he didn't even know existed rose up. _'Screw reason,' _it said.

He allowed his lips to rise slightly in a smile. She was pretty, nice, and probably dedicated to studying judging from her uniform. And beyond all reason, he was pretty sure he liked her, just a little bit, as well.

"Sure," he said. "Why not?"


End file.
